Kids Museum

On June 6, 2011, a friend and I took our kids to downtown Houston to the Kids Museum. It is supposed to be one of the best kids museums so we thought we'd take a look at all the fuss. My friend, Rose, had her three kids and I had Andrew and Bailey so we had a full van! (it was interesting getting kids in and out of the back row), but it was really fun. Some things were a little advanced for Andrew, but he enjoyed being able to touch EVERYTHING! (a rarity for kids)

Here are a bunch of photos from that day.

This is my favorite photo from our trip. Andrew had on a lab coat (for about 10 seconds) and of course wouldn't pose for me. I was sad, but now I actually like seeing him "at work". He looks like he's off in a hurry to cure some disease or discover something important in his lab. :)

Inside the lab. (notice the lab coat is gone already). This was actually interesting. You put theses things that looked like pucks from air hockey, onto this table and they bounced around (on air - like air hockey). Then they would stick to another piece. Representing molecules and how they interact.

This scale-like machine measured Andrew in inches, centimeters and nanometers. Then it compared it to chickens and milk cartons and pennies (which I didn't understand).

Anything with letters is a huge hit for Andrew.

Pulling different "matters" to feel how their weights were different.

I don't remember what this was, but he is so cute.

This was fun. See that little white button Andrew is about to push? When you pushed it a clock would start counting down from 2 minutes. You then had to put together the puzzle of North America. Under the puzzle is a part of the table that would spin. When the clock ran out, the table would spin and spin all your pieces away making you have to start over. We did this quite a few times (until I could solve the puzzle in under 2 minutes - which you see here:) )

Andrew really liked this one. There were two cranks that were connected to a string that went up over a spool and back down. Then each string connected to a corner of a square. The object was to put the ping pong ball in the square and get it to the top of the board without it falling through the various holes. Andrew did a pretty good job of the opposite. He thought it was fun to put the ball in the square and then make it fall out of the hole and run around and get it from the back.

Now it's not all fun and games at the museum. Kids had to work too! Andrew got a job at a pet store/veterinary.


He made sure each kennel had a dog and a water bowl in it.
He would feed the dogs...

and tell them to "stay"
He would listen to the animals hearts to make sure they were healthy.

And work the cash register too! My what a demanding job!

He could have worked at the grocery store too, but decided to stay a consumer instead.

There were stations where adults helped the kids with projects or taught them something. (I had to get a picture of the little girl in pink. She reminded me of my niece Shelby.)They had this awesome outside water area that allowed the kids to play and get wet, but it was so hot that they dried super fast. So go at it kids!


This huge bowl had a constant flow of water going in to it and the kids could spray water guns at the bowl to add more water to it. Once it got full it would tip over and splash everyone near buy.

There were lots of these trough like things full of water and water toys. They could build things with pvc pipes and try to get the water to go from one end to the other. There were also floating toys, sinking toys and toys that hovered in the middle. This is where we ate our lunch (since no food was allowed inside). The kids seemed to enjoy some time outside, but the adults and babies got a good sweat by the time the kids were done.

And last but not least....the Mustang!

I had to include this photo for my dad. What kind of engine is it Dad?
It took a lot of convincing to get Andrew to get in the car. I wanted a full photo of him in it, but I couldn't keep the kids out long enough.

Now the kids weren't the only ones exploring and learning. Miss Bailey learned where her toes were!

And she learned how to pull of her headband and (large) flower off. I didn't mind my bald baby girl since it gave her something to play with.

All in all we had a great time. It was a little stressful because I wanted Andrew to play certain things but he didn't want to and vice versa. I also wish I hadn't brought the big double stroller in since Andrew spent a total of 2 minutes in it.

On the way home we hit a little traffic. (it was about 4pm heading away from downtown so that makes sense). At one point while we were driving on the freeway I heard some honking. I thought that was kinda weird, but not that uncommon for Houston. (People drive crazy here). Then I saw this red mustang (maybe an early 90's model) driving next to me. I noticed that the driver was drifting over to my lane. I honked and moved as far over as I could without going in the next lane. I was watching the driver and he didn't even look at me. His windows were down and he was just blankly staring ahead. After slowing down to allow the driver to get ahead of me, I noticed he was drifting both left and right. The freeway speed was probably around 50 and there were lots of cars on the road. We kept watching the car and had an opportunity to pass it so we did. (If this guy was going to cause an accident I would rather be in front than behind it). A few minutes later it passed us and (I'm not exaggerating) was within inches of hitting our side mirror. This guy was obviously not a safe driver so I had Rose call 911. We got the license plate number, rough year and make of the car (good thing Mustangs are easily identifiable). We gave them all the info we could, and they would pass it on to someone in Houston. (I guess it called somewhere in Idaho since Rose's number is an Idaho number. I'm not really sure how that works). So we stayed back and moved another lane away, but were curious what would happen. One exit away from where we would get off, we saw a cop car with it's lights on get on the freeway. We couldn't see where it was going or if it found this guy, but I seriously hope that they did. He was driving so dangerous. We just didn't want anybody to get hurt or in an accident.

Anyhoo, what a way to end a day huh? I was so exhausted when we got home. Tired from walking around all day, and emotionally drained from the adrenaline I felt while driving home.

Still a good day though, and I might do it again (minus the crazy driver) :)